Ironing board



Oct. 20, 1936. A. WENGER 2,057,751

IRONING BOARD Filed Sept. 19, 1955 damn Wenger BY 1 I Z '6 i ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 20, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,057,751 IRONING BOARD Aaron Wenger, Bayonne, N. J.. Application September 19, 1935, Serial No. 41,247 3 Claims. or. 38. 119) This invention relates to improvements in collapsible ironing boards and particularly to means for mounting and bracing such a board on the supporting legs thereof in a manner alfording a greater unobstructed clearance space below the under-surface of the board than has heretofore been possible with other means employed for horizontally supporting such boards.

An important object of my invention is to employ an angular brace member for supporting the board on the legs thereof and mount such a brace member with its apex disposed proximate the hinge between the board and its supporting legs and in which the arms of the brace are disposed respectively in supporting engagement along the under-surface of the board and against the legs thereof.

Another important object of my invention is to provide means for easily and quickly manipulating the brace member into and from board-supporting position. Another object of my invention is to provide supporting means of the class described in combination with an ironing board in which the legs are adapted to collapse upon one another and upon the board itself to dispose the legs in a plane close to and parallel with the board.

Other objects of my invention will either become apparent or be particularly referred to in connection with the description of the illustrative embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a front elevation of a preferred embodiment of an ironing board employing my invention as the same would appear when the board is opened for use.

Figure 2 is a bottom view of the board and legs shown in Figure l and illustrates in dotted lines the position of a rigid angular brace member when it is collapsed against the under-side of the board.

Figure 3 is an end view of the ironing board as seen from the right-hand end of Figure 1.

Figure 4 illustrates a modified form of the angular brace member shown in Figure 1 and the manner in which an articulated angular brace may be employed instead of the rigid brace above described.

Referring to the drawing it will be seen that numeral I represents an ironing board having a pair of vertical back legs II and a pair of inclined front legs I2 hingeably secured in any suitable manner proximate one end of the board I0, such, for example, as by means of a machine bolt I3 passing through both sets of legs and brackets I4 secured to the under-surface of the board.

The legs II and I2, respectively, are secured together as a unit by any suitable means, such as cleats I5 and I6 and cross braces I1 and I8. An 5 articulated brace comprising links I9 and 20 is hingeably disposed between the upper cleats I5 and IS, with the opposite ends of the links hingeably secured, respectively, to said cleats by fixtures 2| and 22. A stop 23 is formed on the link 10 I9 to hold it in the position shown when the legs are open for use, it being understood from the drawing that the joint between the links I9 and 23 may be hingeably elevated to permit the legs I I and I2 to be folded upon one another.

My invention is particularly directed to the combination with an ironing board of the class described of an angular or V-shaped brace means 25 having an arm or rigid section 26 extending from a point proximate the hinge I3 along and suitably secured to the under-surface of the board and a second arm or rigid section 21 disposed, when the ironing board structure is open for use, along the inclined legs I2.

An important object of my invention is to em- 25 ploy the stiffening and supporting function of the arms 26 and 21 of an angular brace means of this general type and particularly the supporting effect ofiered by the ends 28 and 29 thereof; and thereby afford a longer clearance space beneath 30 and between the board I0 and legs I2 than is possible when a straight brace of comparable supporting efiiciency is used.

In the form of my device shown in Figure l the arm 26 is rotatably mounted in bearings 30 and 3| secured to the under-side of the board I 0. The bearing 30 is provided with a slot 32 through which a screw 33 is inserted and thereafter screwed into the end 28 of the arm 26 to prevent the arm from being withdrawn from the bearing 30. A notch 34 formed at the free end of the arm 21 is adapted to engage the upper cleat It on the legs I2 when the brace 25 is rotated in the bearings 3Il-3I and disposed in a plane normal to that of the board, which may be defined as its extended supporting position.

In order to collapse the board In and legs I I and I2, the end 35 of the board is first elevated slightly to disengage the notch 34 and cleat I6, the arm 2! of the brace 25 is then rotated into a plane parallel to that of the board as shown in dotted lines in Figure 2, and the board may then be lowered into parallelism with the legs I2. Thereafter, with the board standing on the ends of legs I2, the brace I920 may be manipulated upwardly and the legs II lowered into parallelism with the legs I2. In opening the board into a position like that shown in Figure 1, after the legs I I and I2 are disposed in the position shown,

it is only necessary to raise the end 35 of the board III because the arm 21 of the brace 25 will, under the force of gravity, swing downward into engagement with the cleat I6.

Referring now to Figure 4, it will be seen that an articulated V-shaped brace having arms or rigid sections 4II-4I, hinged together at 43 may be employed instead of the rigid brace 25, above described when means is provided for rigidlysupporting the free ends of the arms 40-4ll in spaced relationship with one another while the device is in extended supporting position. In this form of device the arm 40 is rigidly secured to the bottom of the board II] in bearings 44 and 45 and the free end of the arm II is slidably secured to the cleat I6 by a bearing 46. A strut 41, hinged to the arm 40 at 48 supports the arms in this formof my devicetwhen the free end thereof is disposed in a notch .49 formed in the arm M.

In each of the devices shown and described the angular or V-shaped brace means is preferably made of metal of sufficient strength to serve as .a stiffening means for the board as well as being a support having an efiectiveness at least equal to a straight support disposed between the board It! and legs I2 at the points of attachment of the bearing 30 and cleat I6 of Figure 1 or the bearings 44-46 of Figure 4. This angular form of support, however, is superior to other forms of support, particularly of the straight bar type, in the matter of affording the clearance beneath the board, above referred to.

While I have described what nowseems to be the preferred form of a device embodying my invention, various modifications may occur to those skilled in the art in the configuration of the component elements which in combination make up the invention as a whole and no specific limitation is intended by the phraseology of the foregoing description or illustrations in the accompanying drawing.

What is claimed is:

1. An ironing board comprising in combination, a pair of vertical legs, and a pair of inclined legs secured by hinge means proximate one end of said board, bracing means to hold said legs in supporting position, angular brace means having two rigidly connected, angularly related arms for supporting said board in horizontal position on said legs and bearings secured to the under side of said board for rotatably securing one of said arms thereto, and means for detachably securing the end of the other arm to the inclined legs when the board is disposed in horizontal position,

2. An ironing board comprising in combination, a plurality of supporting legs secured thereto by a single hinge means located proximate one end of said board, bracing means to hold said legs in supporting position, angular brace means for supporting 'said board in horizontal position on said legs with'an unobstructed clearance space below the board from a point proximate said hinge means to'the other end of said board, said angular brace means comprising a pair of freeended angularly related supporting-arms one of which is rotatably secured tothe under side of said board along the longitudinal axis thereof,

and means on the other arm to operatively se cure the same to certain of said legs and support the board in horizontal position.

3. An ironing board structure comprising an ironing board member; supporting leg means hingeably secured to the ironing board near one end thereof so that it can assume an extended supporting to the board including an inclined leg member; foldable brace means to hold the leg means in ex-- tended supporting position including a bar means having rigid sections extending at an angle to each other and a substantial distance from the hinge for the leg means and in which the sections of the bar means are rigid with respect to each other when in board supporting position; means securing one of the sides of the bar means to one of the aforesaid members, the other side of the bar means engaging the other of the aforesaid members whereby said brace means affords a support for the ironing board for a substantial distance from the hinge for said leg means.

AARON WENGER.

position and can also fold up close 

